fishfactor
Gold Member
The guys from Terex stopped by our jobsite today and dropped off a demo unit. Here are my thoughts. I will be using a Bobcat T320 as a comparison in many areas.
Cab is sealed and pressurized and keeps you clean. It was dry and dusty outside and I couldn't find any cab leaks. No dust accumulated inside all day. The AC works great. I actually found that the low setting on the fan blows a little too hard. It was in the low 80's here today and I couldn't run it on the coldest setting. Cab is more comfortable that the T320 with storage for your gloves, etc. The seat didn't seem to have any suspension at all, which would be nice. There was a radio and although the cab is quiter that the T320, you would have to crank it way up to hear it at all. A waste of a few hundred dollars in my opinion. The emergency exit (to the rear) is suited for small folks. I'm 5'10" 185lbs and would have a little trouble getting out in a hurry.
Visibility was not quite as good as the T320 mainly due to the smaller windshield. At first it bothered me, but I adjusted. I also didn't like that you can't see all four corners of the tracks like on a Bobcat.
The machine has a radius lift arm lift. This limits the height you can stab through a tree a little.
The undercarriage design concerned me. I tried my best to throw a track and couldn't. I am just not familiar with the design and can't give any real feedback. CAT has been using it for a while so I'm sure it is fine.
Now to the important stuff....
Performance was VERY suprising. I almost can't even compare it to the T320 here. Granted the teeth only had about 90 hours on them and the head was a 2 speed where our head is 1 speed, but the Terex powered through trees that we had already went around in the T320. It was running just over 2000 RPM at WOT and they had the flow turned down to 37 GPM as that is what the head was rated for. It can be turned up to 45 GPM. I feed it a steady diet of 6" - 8" hardwoods for about 2 hours straight. It was in the low 80's and the water temp stayed at 210 or below. I wasn't familiar with the high tech computer inside or I would have noted Hydraulic temp, etc but I never got any warning buzzers or anything.
You can adjust the hydraulic flow from in the cab on the computer. I'm sure you can do more on there too but I didn't ask for that lesson.
The head uses no electrical connection which is nice. We have torn more than 1 wiring harness off of the T320.
The hydraulic system also has a bypass valve. If you start to stall the head, it goes into bypass. Clear the load and it starts back up. A stalling head also has no effect on lift or tilt. That is a huge plus over the T320. When it starts to stall, you can't lift or tilt without turning the head off first.
The radiator has an automatic reversing fan. You can also manually reverse it. Hopefully this will keep the radiator clean as it would'nt be really easy to access to clean if you had to. Maybe there is a trick to it, but after flipping the rear roll cage and opening the rear cover, you still couldn't get to it.
In summary, this machine outperforms the T320 hands down, no questions. My local dealer was great throughout the demo and has a large fleet of service trucks. The dealer had 2 guys there and a Terex factory rep stopped by as well. After a hour or so they left the machine with us and said they would be back later. While this isn't a real "I have a problem" service call, I feel confident I would get good service after the sale.
Pending the upcoming Bobcat T870 demo, the Terex is at the top right now as far as a future machine in that class. He is also getting some info on setting up one of their 125 excavators with a head.
Cab is sealed and pressurized and keeps you clean. It was dry and dusty outside and I couldn't find any cab leaks. No dust accumulated inside all day. The AC works great. I actually found that the low setting on the fan blows a little too hard. It was in the low 80's here today and I couldn't run it on the coldest setting. Cab is more comfortable that the T320 with storage for your gloves, etc. The seat didn't seem to have any suspension at all, which would be nice. There was a radio and although the cab is quiter that the T320, you would have to crank it way up to hear it at all. A waste of a few hundred dollars in my opinion. The emergency exit (to the rear) is suited for small folks. I'm 5'10" 185lbs and would have a little trouble getting out in a hurry.
Visibility was not quite as good as the T320 mainly due to the smaller windshield. At first it bothered me, but I adjusted. I also didn't like that you can't see all four corners of the tracks like on a Bobcat.
The machine has a radius lift arm lift. This limits the height you can stab through a tree a little.
The undercarriage design concerned me. I tried my best to throw a track and couldn't. I am just not familiar with the design and can't give any real feedback. CAT has been using it for a while so I'm sure it is fine.
Now to the important stuff....
Performance was VERY suprising. I almost can't even compare it to the T320 here. Granted the teeth only had about 90 hours on them and the head was a 2 speed where our head is 1 speed, but the Terex powered through trees that we had already went around in the T320. It was running just over 2000 RPM at WOT and they had the flow turned down to 37 GPM as that is what the head was rated for. It can be turned up to 45 GPM. I feed it a steady diet of 6" - 8" hardwoods for about 2 hours straight. It was in the low 80's and the water temp stayed at 210 or below. I wasn't familiar with the high tech computer inside or I would have noted Hydraulic temp, etc but I never got any warning buzzers or anything.
You can adjust the hydraulic flow from in the cab on the computer. I'm sure you can do more on there too but I didn't ask for that lesson.
The head uses no electrical connection which is nice. We have torn more than 1 wiring harness off of the T320.
The hydraulic system also has a bypass valve. If you start to stall the head, it goes into bypass. Clear the load and it starts back up. A stalling head also has no effect on lift or tilt. That is a huge plus over the T320. When it starts to stall, you can't lift or tilt without turning the head off first.
The radiator has an automatic reversing fan. You can also manually reverse it. Hopefully this will keep the radiator clean as it would'nt be really easy to access to clean if you had to. Maybe there is a trick to it, but after flipping the rear roll cage and opening the rear cover, you still couldn't get to it.
In summary, this machine outperforms the T320 hands down, no questions. My local dealer was great throughout the demo and has a large fleet of service trucks. The dealer had 2 guys there and a Terex factory rep stopped by as well. After a hour or so they left the machine with us and said they would be back later. While this isn't a real "I have a problem" service call, I feel confident I would get good service after the sale.
Pending the upcoming Bobcat T870 demo, the Terex is at the top right now as far as a future machine in that class. He is also getting some info on setting up one of their 125 excavators with a head.
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